COVID: Florida knocked out of Top 10 list where coronavirus is spreading the fastest
From No. 5 to No. 11.
Florida began 2022 ranked fourth on a list among states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest before slipping to No. 5 last week. How are we doing this week?
Florida drops below the Top 10 on places where COVID-19 is spreading the fastest
New coronavirus cases dropped in Florida in the week ending Sunday, dipping by 3.4% as 408,841 cases were reported. The previous week had 423,150 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Florida now ranks 11th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.
• To compare, in the week ending Jan. 9, Florida ranked fifth in the nation when the state department of health reported 423,150 cases, a 40% rise from the week before.
• In the week ending Jan. 2, the state ranked fourth when the Florida Department of Health reported 302,179 cases, a 142% rise from the week before.
• In the week ending Dec. 26, the state ranked ninth, reporting 124,865 cases, a 332.9% rise from the week before that.
• In the week ending Dec. 19, the state had reported 28,841 cases of the virus that causes COVID-19, a 142% increase from mid-December.
In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 5.8% from the week before, with 5,438,242 cases reported. With 6.45% of the country's population, Florida had 7.52% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 39 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
The New Year's holiday weekend significantly disrupted who got tested, how many people got tested, what labs operated and what government agencies reported on time. Many of the New Year's weekend reports were shifted into the latest week, and the previous week was disrupted by late reporting from the weekend of Christmas. Consequently, week-to-week comparisons will be skewed and these numbers will be unreliable even as they're accurate to what states reported.
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COVID case surge in Florida counties
Adding the most new cases overall were Miami-Dade County, with 93,321 cases; Broward County, with 48,103 cases; and Orange County, with 30,752. Weekly case counts rose in 63 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Duval, Brevard and Pinellas counties.
Within Florida, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis included:
• Miami-Dade County with 3,435 cases per 100,000 per week
• Broward County with 2,463 cases per 100,000 per week
• Alachua County with 2,427 cases per 100,000 per week
Florida does not directly publish county-level death data.
The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
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What is the COVID vaccination rate for Florida?
Florida ranked 18th among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 75.5% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 74.6%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Wednesday, Florida reported administering another 495,312 vaccine doses, including 129,643 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 456,278 vaccine doses, including 116,996 first doses. In all, Florida reported it has administered 34,496,916 total doses.
How many in Florida died from coronavirus?
A total of 5,041,918 people in Florida have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 62,504 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 65,699,947 people have tested positive and 850,605 people have died.
Florida's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 16,971
The week before that: 15,986
Four weeks ago: 3,039
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 203,221
The week before that: 185,954
Four weeks ago: 90,739
Hospitals in 41 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 35 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 43 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
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What is the best way to protect yourself from COVID-19?
Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and reduce the impact of COVID in your communities.
The same precautions still apply:
• mask up
• social distance
• wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of germs
• avoid crowds in which you are unsure of vaccination status
Please consider subscribing to a USA TODAY Network-Florida newspaper at offers.usatodaynetwork.com/network-regional-florida.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @mikestucka
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: COVID omicron surge Florida: 408,841 cases reported
